A really special and unique book.

I really loved this book. The story is wonderful and I really enjoyed the narrators performance. I would recommend this to anyone :)

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2 people found this helpful

"But here you are; it must be fate."

I admit it. One look at the cover and I was sold: a delightful ginger cat sniffing the obviously delicious food fumes on a background of orange and blue.
But...The several short stories inside were all right but certainly not special, the recipes given could be used as a basis for do-it-yourself, though they personally did not appeal to this reader - and the cat in the story was a tabby! Ah, well.

An OK read made awkward by translation and, at least initially, by the constant repetition of unfamiliar names of the people presented and the food and surroundings. Narrator Hanako Footman iread well with a clear delivery but unfortunately has the type of voice I personally find unpleasant to my ear so although the idea of an ex detective opening a restaurant with his daughter and offering the additional service of rediscovering for their clients a certain taste of meal remembered from the last was intriguing it was totally insufficient to charge up my mental tastebuds. And the idea that their advertising was simply, "We find your food" without address or further information seemed silly: those who soundtrack down the food detectives should, presumably, have throttle find the recipe for themselves.

But I do still love the cover!

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Lovely read.

Thoroughly enjoyable book. Easy read and gentle to read. Particularly liked the end, would really recommend. Could imagine it on tv.

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Has potential but…

It was a series of sweet stories about food related mystery dishes but is not rewritten like a linear story- every time there is a new client we have to hear about the fact that they can’t find the restaurant because it’s unmarked by a sign, every single time. It’s over explained at other points too and repetitive in its style. A shame as if it was a bit more developed or richer in events or characters I would have enjoyed it a lot more but can’t help feel a little disappointed- got through it though but meh…

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Too much repetition

I don’t understand the popularity of this book. It’s very basic, simply consisting of (spoiler alert) accounts of several individual food detective jobs, with certain elements repeated in each story, such as the client’s difficulty finding the restaurant, the description of the payment method and the cat’s friendliness towards the client at the end of the visit.

I did find the first couple of stories interesting but then they just became tedious. I kept going because I was expecting the stories to become connected somehow, with perhaps a twist that the end. But not so.

I also found the narration for the daughter rather jarring as it made her come across as childlike and over-jaunty; she was not believable as someone who deals with clients with sensitive requests.

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Completely misses the mark

I hate to write a negative review of anyone's hard work, but really this novel is not worth the effort to read or listen to.
Presumably trying to leverage the success of books such as 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold' the plot of the Kamogawa Food Detectives is exceptionally weak and very shallow. The 'interest' the story should generate ought to stem from the back-stories of those coming to the restaurant/detective agency to request a half-remembered dish from their pasts to be recreated. However, the stories revealed to us are so lame as to be totally banal and certainly don't hold the interest. For example, one client is a young woman who recalled ONCE, when she was aged 5, having a spicy pasta dish at a restaurant with her beloved grandfather, who is now old and ill with dementia. That's pretty much the entire extent of her story - it may have you on the edge of your seat reaching for the Kleenex, but it didn't move me at all. Although there is potential for some good yarns to be told here, the author just didn't seem to have their heart in it. There is no tension in the plot, you are never left wondering what might happen next. The main characters, the restaurant chef/detective and his adult spinster daughter were written as two dimensional caricatures - held together by the memory of their respective wife and mother who had passed away some years before the novel is set. He used to be a police detective. Apart from that, their backstories are also largely blank. There are many opportunities to add interest, colour and flavour (pun intended) to the story, but it feels like the author just couldn't be bothered.
I am afraid I also have to comment on the voice actor - Hanako Footman. Although she has a very charming and attractive voice, she characterised the daughter in the story as a rather petulant sounding teenager, whereas it is clear in the story that she is a mature woman in her 30s. Really that just didn't work.
If you liked the 'Before The Coffee Gets Cold' series, avoid this one at all costs - it's nothing like - weakly plotted and generally very shallow indeed. Apologies for being so very negative - I just felt this audiobook was a waste of time and money.

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